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Love Canal 1 L O V E C A N A L Center for Health, Environment and Justice P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, Virginia 22040 Voice: 703-237-2249 - Email: [email protected] - Website: www.chej.org Fact Pack P001 Cover photo: Lois Gibbs and daughter Melissa 1979 For more information or to order copies of this publication contact: Center for Health, Environment and Justice P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, Virginia 22040 Voice: 703-237-2249 - Email: [email protected] - Website: www.chej.org TABLE OF CONTENTS A History of Love Canal 1 Love Canal Homeowners Association 2 A Summary of Events 4 Remedial Construction Outside the Fence Community Health Studies 6 Miscarriages and Crib Deaths Birth Defects Nervous Breakdowns Urinary Tract Disorders Combined Health Disorders Key Dates of Events at Love Canal 13 Biography of Lois Gibbs 17 Formation of Center For Health, Environment and Justice 19 News Clips and Articles on Love Canal 20 Love Canal A HISTORY OF LOVE CANAL The history of Love Canal began in 1892 Homebuilding around the old canal also when William T. Love proposed connecting began in the 1950’s. However, homeowners the upper and lower Niagara River by were never given any warning or informa- digging a canal six to seven miles long. By tion that would indicate that the property was doing this, Love hoped to harness the water located near a chemical waste dump. Most of the upper Niagara River into a navigable families who moved into the area were channel, which would create a man-made unaware of the old landfill and its poisons. waterfall with a 280-foot drop into the lower The one-time canal looked very innocent, Niagara River, providing cheap power. like any field anywhere. It certainly did not appear to be a chemical dump with 20,000 However, the country fell into an economic tons of toxic wastes buried beneath it. depression and financial backing for the project slipped away. Love then abandoned In 1978, there were approximately 800 the project, leaving behind a partially dug private single-family homes and 240 low- section of the canal, sixty feet wide and three income apartments built around the canal. thousand feet long. In 1920, the land was The elementary school was located near the sold at public auction and became a center of the landfill. The Niagara River, to municipal and chemical disposal site until the south and a creek to the north of the 1953. The principal company that dumped landfill formed natural boundaries for the waste in the canal was Hooker Chemical area affected by the migrating chemicals. Corporation, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum. The City of Niagara and the From the late 1950’s through the 1970’s, United States Army used the site as well, people repeatedly complained of odors and with the city dumping garbage and the Army substances surfacing near or in their yards possibly dumping parts of the Manhattan and on the school playground. The city, Project and other chemical warfare material. responding to these complaints, visited the area and covered the “substances” with dirt In 1953, after filling the canal and covering it or clay. with dirt, Hooker sold the land to the Board of Education for one dollar. Hooker included After years of complaints, the city and in the deed transfer a “warning” of the county hired a consultant to investigate. In chemical wastes buried on the property and a 1976, the Calspan Corporation completed a disclaimer absolving Hooker of any future study of the canal area and found toxic liability. chemical residues in the air and sump pumps of a high percentage of homes at the southern Perhaps because they didn’t understand the end of the canal. They also found drums just potential risks associated with Hooker’s beneath or on the surface, and high levels of chemical wastes, the Board of Education PCB’s in the storm sewer system. Calspan began in 1954 to construct an elementary recommended that the canal be covered with school on the canal property. The 99th Street clay, home sump pumps be sealed off and a School was completed by 1955, opening its tile drainage system be installed to control doors to about 400 students each year. the migration of wastes. 1 Center for Health, Environment and Justice However, nothing was done by the city with attending the school, Gibbs became very the exception of placing window fans in a few concerned about the danger the landfill posed homes found to contain high levels of to the school. She also realized that the school chemical residues. being built so close to the landfill might have something to do with her son’s poor health. In March of 1978, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) began Gibbs first approached the School Board collecting air and soil tests in basements and armed with notes from two physicians conducting a health study of the 239 families recommending the transfer of her child to that immediately encircled the canal. The another public school. But the Board refused Health Department found an increase in to transfer her child stating that if it was unsafe reproductive problems among women and for her son, then it would be unsafe for all high levels of chemical contaminants in soil children and they were not going to close the and air. school because of one concerned mother with a sickly child. Gibbs was angered and began talking with other parents in the neighborhood Love Canal Homeowners to see if they were having problems with their Association children’s health. After speaking with hundreds of people, she realized that the entire Love Canal Homeowners Association community was affected. (LCHA) was established in August of 1978 to give the community a voice in the decisions On August 2, 1978, the New York State made during the Love Canal environmental Department of Health (NYSDOH) issued a crisis. LCHA membership consisted of health order. The health order recommended approximately 500 families living within a that the 99th Street School be closed (a 10-block area surrounding the Love Canal victory), that pregnant women and children landfill. The community consisted of blue- under the age of two be evacuated, that collar workers with an average annual income residents not eat out of their home gardens and of $10,000-$25,000. The majority of people that they spend limited time in their worked in local industries which were largely basements. A few days later, the state agreed chemical. to purchase all 239 homes in the first two rings of homes closest to the canal. The Love Canal Homeowners Association grew out of another group established in June These unprecedented actions served to bring 1978, the Love Canal Parents Movement. The the residents together to form a strong united Parents Movement was started by Lois Gibbs, citizens organization, and served as the who lived in the neighborhood and whose stepping stone to the establishment of the children attended the 99th Street School. Ms. Love Canal Homeowners Association. Within Gibbs, unaware of the dump, was alerted first a week of the health order, the residents held a by newspaper articles describing the landfill, public meeting, elected officers and set goals its wastes, and proximity to the 99th for the newly formed organization. All goals StreetSchool. Having a small sickly child set at that time were ultimately reached. 2 Love Canal The Love Canal and the Surrounding Neighborhood 3 Center for Health, Environment and Justice A Summary of Events that crossed the canal and underground sand layers that carried this overflow into the basements of adjacent homes and through- At the time of the first evacuation order in out the community. August of 1978, the state established the Love Canal Interagency Task Force to The cleanup plan consisted of a tile drain coordinate the many activities undertaken at collection system designed to “contain” the the canal. The task force had three major waste and prevent any outward migration of responsibilities: the relocation of evacuated chemical leachate. A graded trench system families, the continuation of health and was dug around the canal to intercept environmental studies and the construction migrating leachate and create a barrier drain of a drainage system to prevent further system. The containment system is shown migration of toxic chemicals. below. Remedial Construction The leachate collected from the drain system is pumped to an on-site treatment plant that A cross-sectional diagram of the Love Canal uses a series of filters, most importantly, landfill is shown below. Because of the close activated charcoal, to remove chemicals proximity to the Niagara River, the water from the waste stream. The remaining table in the canal would rise and fall “clean” water is then flushed down the substantially. As this occurred, water would sanitary sewer system. Chemicals such as mix with chemicals in the landfill and move mercury and other heavy metals are not out into the community as “leachate.” As the removed by this treatment system. water table rose, so did the leachate which moved out through the topsoil to homes built A clay cap was placed over the canal as a nearby. There was also an old stream bed cover to minimize rainwater entering the 4 Love Canal canal surface, to prevent chemicals from Outside the Fence vaporizing into the air and to prevent direct contact with contaminated soil. The 20,000 Once the state had evacuated 239 families tons of wastes are still buried in the center of and began the cleanup, they arbitrarily this community. defined the affected area and erected a 10- foot fence around the evacuated area.
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